JOSEPH
EJERCITO ESTRADA
Born: April 19, 1937
Position in History: Philippines: 13th President, Fifth Republic: 3rd
President
Term: June 30, 1998 - January 20, 2001
Duration of Term: 935 days
Joseph Estrada was born in Tondo, Manila on April 19, 1937. His parents
moved to San Juan where he grew up. He studied at the Ateneo de Manila
University. He decided to follow his father's footsteps and took up
engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology. During his third year
at Mapua, Estrada left his studies to try the movies. His displeased
parents forbid him to use their family name so he adopted the name
Estrada, which is Spanish for street. He was also known more commonly
by his nickname, Erap which is the reverse spelling of pare or friend.
Estrada was very successful in his career as a movie star. He was the
leading role in 107 hundred movies and produced more than 70 of his
own, for which he later won various awards for. Despite the lack of an
established political party, Estrada ran for mayor of San Juan in the
1969 local elections. As mayor, he established new schools, health
centres, the installation of artesian wells and other projects
generally beneficial to the municipality. In 1972, Estrada was named
one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) in Public Administration,
Most Outstanding Mayor and Foremost Nationalist and Most Outstanding
Metro Manila Mayor. He was San Juan mayor for 16 years. Estrada was
removed from office soon after the 1986 EDSA Revolution as part of the
government reorganisation.
In 1987, Estrada became a senator. He sponsored three bills during his
term and opposed the renewal of the US Military Base Agreement, which
Estrada explained was because he wanted the Philippines to reclaim full
sovereignty. He was named Outstanding Senator by the Philippine Free
Press on January 14, 1989. Estrada ran for position of vice-president
in the 1992 elections and won. Despite being in a different political
party from President Ramos, Estrada was appointed as the head of the
Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, a newly created government
organisation with the prime objective of dissolving organised crime.
Joseph Ejercito Estrada was elected to the position of president in the
1998 elections. It is believed his popularity as an actor contributed
to his victory in the presidential elections. Early October 2000,
provincial governor Luis "Chavit" Singson revealed Estrada's
involvement in various illegal activities and pocketing vast sums of
money from illegal gambling protection money as well as skimming from
tobacco taxes. After voting on the matter, the Senate decided to begin
impeachment proceedings and Estrada was charged with bribery, graft and
corruption, betrayal of the public trust and violation of the
constitution. As a result of the proceedings, the Philippine economy
began to suffer and the Philippine peso suffered devaluation.
Throughout the impeachment trial, it was alleged Estrada had the money
held in several bank accounts under the alias Jose Velarde. The
impeachment trial collapsed on January 15, 2001, after the trial's
Senate judges barred the inspection of Estrada's bank accounts. The
prosecution resigned causing a partial collapse of the government. The
EDSA II Revolution was the outcome and five days of protesting on the
streets followed while protestors demanded Estrada resign. On January
19, 2001, Estrada announced he was stepping aside as president.
Since EDSA II, Estrada has been arrested on at least two occasions and
is currently being detained by government authorities pending his
investigation and trial based on the charges of economic plunder, which
is punishable by death.
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